champu

I already chose my current container to fit a larger reserve, opting for a 126, than most people have for the main I jump. I have one reserve ride on it and it felt like a barge, I don't think a 143 is really necessary. It's probably going to be a while before I buy another container, but if/when I do it'll be a smaller container and the same size reserve.

Speaking of statistics made up on the spot... I'm sure the lack of a third parachute is irrelevent in much more than just 99% of fatal accidents. BASE rigs are great for BASE jumping, but when I'm skydiving I'd rather pack my 9-cell high-aspect elliptical in 5 minutes, have it work "most of the time" (tm), and spend more of my time flying it. I'll keep a much more carefully packed, stronger, larger, squarer, 7-cell on hand, however, just in case. 10 canopies would be awesome, you could wear your normal rig, but add reserve containers on your upper arms, front and back of your theighs and one on each of your lower legs. You'd also have the added benefit of looking like Optimus Prime, and who, deep down, doesn't love Optimus Prime?

Simple answer? Anything that will... a) cause you to hit someone else b) not allow you to land with a level wing over your head c) induce a malfunction, especially if it is done below your "hard deck" altitude That said... Most production canopies these days behave fairly well unless you do something that induces slack in the lines. It sounds like you've already found two ways of doing this (letting up on brakes too quickly after a stall and coming out of a toggle spiral quickly and with no input on the opposite toggle) Brian Germain has a book about canopy flight that I hear is excellent, and it would probably make a good supplement to a canopy control course and/or a night at the bonfire with a few instructors.

taken this past Saturday at sunset (from the ground) I still haven't done any tandem work in freefall, but tandem landings are always good fodder for the 70-200 2.8L IS

The c-line broke on opening. The steering line broke when brakes were unstowed (which makes sense, there's not any tension on the lower brake lines until you release them.) Neither of these happened to me by the way. I just got my Katana new two months ago, so it only has 100 jumps or so on the lineset. I just know quite a few people who fly Katanas. Really, the thought of breaking a suspension line doesn't bother me (even on a 100-ish canopy) provided the broken line doesn't get caught up in anything and cause other problems. A steering line breaking is a little bit scarier thought though. After I do my "check, pop the brakes, check" I don't always use my toggles very much when flying around. It's quite possible that if my steering line was going to break, it would do so when I transition to toggles from rears on landing. Given I'd probably be just off the ground and not going that fast at this point, but it would still hurt.

I wouldn't say Spectra enables poor gear maintainance, especially not on Katanas. By the time you get to the 450-500 jump mark on a spectra-lined Katana your openings will probably be so out of whack you'll be dying to get a reline. If anything, I'd say HMA 500 enables poor gear maintainance. The lines don't go out of trim, they show very little fuzziness as they weaken, they don't get discolored nearly as much as some other line choices. Then almost out of nowhere, "snap!" The only way to avoid that is to pay attention to how many jumps you've been putting on the lineset, which can be hard if you've got multiple rigs that you use regularly. On Katanas I've seen a broken c-line (right below the cascade if I remember correctly) at about 450 jumps, and a broken lower steering line (halfway between the eye and the toggle) at about 600 jumps. Both were landed without any problems, but it's something to think about.

If a jeweler can engrave the inside of the band of a ring, they can engrave a closing pin.

Reminds me of this shirt

Because we, as a society, are completely out of our minds? Because some people refuse to admit that they simply don't know what's best for everyone? Because politicians (left and right) still cling to the ridiculous notion that doing the completely wrong thing is somehow better than doing nothing at all?

They banned smoking in airplanes and public buildings. Then they banned smoking in restaurants, bars, and theaters. They banned smoking in smoke shops. Then they banned smoking on beaches. And the battle cry was always, "Hey, don't pollute my air, keep that smoke to yourself." Now they've banned smoking anywhere in public and also in your car, apartment, condo, or townhome. I don't understand how people could possibly applaud this. Does anyone sleep at night? Or does everyone roll around in bed endlessly, plagued by an eternal state of restlessness from the loathsome thought that someone... somewhere... ...is smoking a cigarette?

I have two reserve rides, one on a Raven at about 1.2 and the second on a PDR at 1.4. On the Raven I popped my brakes and did a quick control check, and the steering lines looked like a reasonable length, but I still ended up stalling my canopy with my toggles at my shoulders when I landed. On my video you see me initiate my flare, stall almost immediately, fall down, and mutter, "what the f%^&..." The PDR flew great, had a smooth flare, and set me down on my feet nicely. One of these days I'll have to get around to buying a PDR to put in my second rig to replace that Raven. On a side note, I've also watched a friend of mine land her Raven with one toggle a foot below the other to keep the thing flying straight. She also stalled it and fell down.

My harnesses/containers/jumpsuits are all blue, black, and white. All the handles on both my rigs are red. I'm a proponent of contrast so that others can see them, but more so that they don't get pulled.

1) Continue to pull the cord, tug the seatbelts, and yank the strings without getting hurt. 2) Choose what to do next season (4-way RW, 4-way RW video, 2-way FF. or 2-way FF video) 3) Do it. No specific jump number goal... ...the past couple years I haven't seemed to need one... ...maybe an upper limit is in order.

They're horses, damn-it! Bovine... Equine... whatever...

We've launched an 8-way rodeo (4-way star, each with a rider) out of a skyvan and it worked beautifully. We were all actually kinda shocked. I'm trying to think of the best way to launch a two way rodeo out of an otter... You'd probably want to have one bull side-bodied on the other as rodeos really want to roll to one side or the other on exit. Having the two roll axes not be aligned will give you some added stability. I'd put one rider all the way in the back of the door, outside, facing the prop with the bull in front of them. Their bull would be head-jamming, shoulders about halfway between facing the prop and square with the door and with side body grips on the other bull. The other bull will be facing out of the plane, and the second rider would have to be... hmm... yeah I don't have a mockup handy so it's hard to picture where I'd put the second rider. I'm sure they'd fit somewhere, but you might have to play with it a bit. Beyond that, on exit, the two bulls have to present really well, and be prepared to fight a bit to keep it from folding in half. The two riders should stay close to the bulls' backs to keep the CG reasonably low, and avoid shifting around as much as possible. /edited to add: oh yeah, and don't forget to get video

Well, I don't know about better, but it is different. This produces a fountain, not a fragmentation grenade.

Does this thread remind anyone else of Ender's Game? No love for the thirds eh? Anyway, this post is definitely one of the stronger arguments against implementing any kind of law like this. If I tell you a couple is going to start a family, and that for sure they will have four kids, you have absolutely no idea which kid will create the greatest net burden on (or provide the greatest net service to!) society. Furthermore, trying to determine how truncating the family to two kids would impact the societal contributions of the first two kids is an even more ridiculous task. This is just as true for poor families as it is for families that would be able to pay your arbitrary tax figure and have the kids anyway. But as for the following... I have to agree with Justin on this one, what he's trying to say really isn't that complicated. In family A, both adults work and pay taxes but have no kids. In family B, both adults work and pay taxes and have a kid. The taxes from both families go towards public works (schools, roads, tax credits for corporations, bombs, etc...) But family B makes more thorough use of these public works on account of there being three of them. Technically, it wouldn't even be fair if nothing was done, but less than nothing is done. Family B gets tax breaks for having the kid, and pays less in taxes than family A. The fact that family B spends their post tax dollars on diapers and formula and family A uses the money to wine and dine is irrelevant. Social Security is a mandatory participation pyramid scheme. The sooner it falls apart and goes away, the less severe the crash will be, and the better off we'll all be in the long run.

Absolutely agreed. As a black coffee drinker, I can't stand starbucks. They roast the snot out of it 'til it tastes like bonfire. Every so often I'll be in an airport wanting a cup of coffee and, my memory failing me, I'll stop by a starbucks. I really wish I'd stop doing that.

No, they mention it every 30 seconds... ...Oh, you meant in the review... [pistol in mouth motion with hand]

FAR Sec. 91.15 Dropping objects No pilot in command of a civil aircraft may allow any object to be dropped from that aircraft in flight that creates a hazard to persons or property. However, this section does not prohibit the dropping of any object if reasonable precautions are taken to avoid injury or damage to persons or property.

I can't decide if you're ahead of your time or behind it.

I have also heard the term "RW rig" used to refer to any rig that wouldn't be considered freefly friendly. This would include anything with worn velcro riser/pin covers (or to many, velcro covers at all) a rear of leg (ROL) pilot chute, or any setup with similarly exposed bridle. While a rig of this type will probably be fine for RW (belly flying) use, taking it on a freefly jump wouldn't be recommended. You can search the gear and rigging forum for more info on freefly friendly equipment.

Be careful using wind chill calculators (or any calculator/formula for non-linear phenomena) with extreme parameters like 120mph. You can't always be sure the numerical approximations the author made are well-behaved that far out.

unlike shooting 4way video where I've had thoughts in freefall such as, "hmm, that was a weird layer of cold air." or "gee, the I-15N is pretty backed up for this time of day." or "that cloud over there kinda looks a boat."

persistence